TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/3 June) – Just three days after the Philippine government sent back containers of trash to Canada, a shipment of electronic wastes dumped in Misamis Oriental last January was set to be transported back to Hong Kong, its port of origin.
Port Collector John Simon of the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental said the container van filled with plastic scraps and shredded electronic parts would leave for Hong Kong Monday night (June 3).
Simon said the wastes totaling 2.561 tons were placed inside 21 sling bags in the container van.
“Today we are shipping back one container van of mixed garbage consisting of plastic scraps and shredded electronic parts to their source,” he said.
“The export of this hazardous wastes from Hong Kong in the guise of ‘assorted electronic accessories’ is illegal under the laws of Hong Kong and the Philippines,” he added.
Simon said the container van was loaded on M/V SITC Nagoya at the MICT on Monday.
Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator said it was fortunate that the Bureau of Customs intercepted this container van after it arrived on M/V SITC Fujian at MICT last January 2, 2019.
She said a bigger shipment of 70 vans would have been shipped here had the van not been intercepted.
“This was just a test shipment. There could have been more,” she said.
After the van arrived last January 2, Simon said Customs personnel found that the shipment was wrongly declared as “assorted electronic accessories”.
He said they also found that the consignee, Crowd Win Industrial Limited Corporation, was non-existent in its address in Manila.
He said they will file charges against the shipment broker identified as Yolanda Mondragon Narandan of Manila.
He identified the Hong Kong exporter as Hin Yuen Tech Environment Limited.
Simon said they immediately issued an alert order on Feb. 18 and a warrant for its seizure and detention was issued on March 5, 2019 for misdeclaration.
This is the third shipment of environment wastes that was seized at the MICT.
Last year, two shipments of household wastes from South Korea were also intercepted at the port.
Last January, 51 container vans containing 1,400 tons (1.27 million kilos) of garbage were loaded on a cargo ship for return to their port of origin in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
But 5,000 tons of household wastes still remain in an abandoned facility in Villanueva awaiting shipment back to South Korea.
Last May 7, Seven 40-foot container vans of “misdeclared municipal trash” from Australia arrived and was intercepted at the port. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
